Bloom Into You
Alternative Names: Yagate Kimi ni Naru, YakaKimi, Eventually, I Will Become You
Genre: Drama
Episodes: 13
Stream available on: Amazon Prime Video
Yuu Koito loves romantic manga and love songs – she is just waiting to finally experience love herself. But when a classmate confesses his love to her, she feels empty and unfulfilled. She realizes that she understands romance as a concept but is incapable of experiencing it herself.
However, that changes when she observes the student council president, Touko Nanami, confidently rejecting a love confession. Taken by this mature handling of the subject, Yuu seeks advice from Touko. But it is exactly her apparent inability to love that fascinates Touko, leading her to confess her love to Yuu shortly thereafter.
A romantic dilemma from which there is no easy escape.
What to expect from Bloom Into You: Bloom Into You is a relatively young Yuri representative and has quickly found its way into all the best lists of this genre. This is not only due to its multi-layered and relatable characters but also to a much more mature handling of the topic. Especially the emotional dilemma of “I love you because you don’t treat me particularly” creates a lot of tension and a really nice dilemma.
Anyone looking for a really beautiful, modern Yuri story with wonderful visuals can’t miss Bloom Into You.
Kannazuki no Miko
Alternative Names: Kannaduki no Miko, Destiny of the Shrine Maiden, Priestesses of the Godless Month
Genre: Drama, Mecha, Supernatural
Episodes: 12
Stream available on: Currently no streaming provider known.
In the small village of Mahoroba, time passes more slowly. Two students from the local academy could not be more different. While Himeko is shy and reserved, Chikane is brave and elegant. From the start, the two love each other, and nothing seems to ruin this love…
… at least until the day of both girls’ birthday when the world turns upside down. A dark voice corrupts a mutual friend of the two, who then launches an attack. This awakens the mysterious powers in the two girls, separating them more and more from each other as they try to resist.
What to expect from Kannazuki no Miko: Kannazuki no Miko has quite a wild mixture of genres, the combination of which one could consider questionable. The emotional story of the two shrine priestesses is interrupted by (significantly exaggerated) antagonists and even mecha battles.
If you look away for just half a minute, you might be confused because the story is quite tight and deals with extremely many themes at the same time. However, it has one, if not the best Yuri kiss of all time (not up for discussion).
With this, Kannazuki no Miko shows two opposite things. A Yuri story can also work with a lot of action and other genres – at the same time, one might ask whether the mecha component was really necessary.
Bonus: Happy Sugar Life
Alternative Names: White Sugar Garden, Black Salt Cage
Genre: Drama, Psycho-Horror
Episodes: 12
Stream available on: Currently no streaming provider known.
The beautiful Satou Matsuzaka has a reputation for being quite easy-going with men. However, after meeting the young girl Shio Koube, she realizes that this is her first and only true love and that she must protect it at all costs.
Satou tells others that she lives with her aunt while secretly sharing an apartment with little Shio. Although Satou appears innocent on the outside, she is willing to do anything to protect her “love” – as nothing and no one must stand in the way of her “Happy Sugar Life” with her supposed little sister.
What to expect from Happy Sugar Life: No matter what you think, it’s wrong. Happy Sugar Life is uncomfortable, brutal, and relentless. By the end of the first episode, you will have to take a deep breath to decide whether you want to continue watching this or not.
The Yuri or Shojo-Ai aspects of the series are more characterized by “sisterly love” than romantic love – but even that is twisted and sometimes cruel.
The story of Happy Sugar Life deals with brutal themes: murder, teachers stalking their students, sexual abuse, Lolita complexes, and a whole range of other cruelties hidden behind a seemingly cute facade.
The series is not light fare – and yet shows that even the Yuri genre can produce stories that deviate from the “two girls meet at a girls’ school and fall in love” cliché.
Do you know any other Yuri or Shojo-Ai series that everyone should definitely watch? What are your favorites?
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